Background to this inspection
Updated
14 December 2021
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This meant the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the manager would be at the location to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 26 October 2021 and ended on 10 November 2021. We visited the office location on 27 October 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, local safeguarding team and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection
We reviewed care records for three people who used the service. We looked at a range of other information including audits, complaints records, recruitment files for three staff and records relating to accidents, incidents and safeguarding. We spoke with the manager, three other members of the management team and three members of care staff. We also spoke with six people who used the service and six relatives.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.
Updated
14 December 2021
About the service
Hillcrest Community is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection 20 people were using the service. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.
People's experience of using this service and what we found
People received safe care and support. All people we spoke with told us they felt safe. Staff knew how to safeguard people.
We reviewed care plans and found people had their capacity assessed appropriately. Capacity and consent forms had not been signed by people receiving care. We have made a recommendation for the provider to always offer the opportunity to people to sign their care records where appropriate.
The providers had ensured all staff who administered medicines were trained to do so. Systems for the recruitment of new staff had been improved.
Quality assurance systems had been introduced and implemented to enable the provider to learn and implement positive change. The provider audited the service however, the audits did not highlight all risks. We have made a recommendation for the provider to ensure audits are effective at addressing all risks.
The feedback about management and leadership was positive. Staff told us they felt supported and the leadership team were approachable.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was inadequate (published 24 April 2021) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found the provider had made some improvements and was no longer in breach of regulation.
This service was in Special Measures following the previous inspection. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.
Why we inspected
This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.
The overall rating for the service has changed from inadequate to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Hillcrest Community on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.